Twins
by justjoy
Summary: Rukia and Hisana are just a normal pair of twins... until a fateful encounter changes that, forever. Both are determined to stay together, come what may. But when danger threatens, just how far will they go to protect each other? -ON HIATUS-
1. Danger!

DISCLAIMER: Honestly...

Author's Note: This plot bunny has been trying to break out of its cage all day. I finally gave in, thus this story. Basically, it was first based on the idea of two living _shinigami_ who were twins, and I realised that Rukia and Hisana would fit the roles perfectly, with some... tweaking. These events takes place when Rukia is fourteen, which should be about 135 years before canon events. In addition, neither Rukia nor Hisana have died in this fic, and I made them twins, though Hisana is still older (of course). And I decided on Kurayuki as their family name, since they don't seem to have surnames before becoming a member of the Kuchiki House. So, to sum up, we now have Rukia and Hisana Kurayuki, a pair of fourteen-year old twins, and very much alive, thank you.

2nd Author's Note: Oops. Sorry for the long AN. Story begins now.

* * *

It was nighttime in Kagamino City.

Suddenly, a black shadow appeared, obscuring the moon.

A howl tore through the silence that had blanketed the city at this late hour.

The sound went unheard by its inhabitants, except for a few.

Two specific people, in fact.

* * *

On the ground, a pair of twins walked along a road. One was laughing, while the other looked on disapprovingly, betraying only the mere hints of a smile.

The two were returning home after a concert. Both felt exhausted to the bone, but the younger one was happy, since she'd managed to drag her sister along to watch a performance by her favourite magician. Otherwise, the fourteen-year old would not have been allowed to attend it alone.

As for the older girl… well, she didn't really care for this stuff, but she didn't mind attending either, since it made her sister happy.

Hisana Kurayuki looked over at her sibling, who was still going on about what they'd seen the magician do. She noticed that a great amount of emphasis was placed on the "pulling a rabbit out of a hat" trick. A sudden thought struck her.

"Rukia?" Her twin glanced back at her. "Would you like magic shows so much if they didn't have rabbits?"

Rukia had just opened her mouth to reply when she saw something move in the periphery of her vision.

She had barely enough time to dodge as something came flying at the pair.

* * *

Two figures stood on a rooftop. Suddenly, one of them moved to grab the sword sheathed at his waist.

"Did you feel it, _taichō_?"

His white-haired companion nodded. "The _reiatsu_ feels like it's near here. Let's go."

And with that, the two men seemed to fly into the dark night, robes fluttering behind them as they jumped from rooftop to rooftop.

* * *

Rukia stood up on shaky legs. Her breath had been knocked out of her when she impacted the barrier by the side of the road.

As she scanned her surroundings, she noticed two things.

The first was the creature that had landed somewhere in the middle of the road. As it moved into the light, Rukia saw its white mask, and the strong-looking tail, which she concluded must have been what almost hit them just now.

The second was Hisana. Her body was lying on the ground, bleeding from a wound on her back where the monster – she could only call it that – had hit her. But that wasn't the main thing that worried and, to be honest, scared Rukia.

What _really_ freaked her out was the sight of another Hisana, standing about a metre away. This one was almost translucent, with a chain coming out of her chest. Following the chain with her eyes, Rukia realised that it was broken, and seemed to have been originally connected to Hisana's prone body.

Her eyes snapped back to the second Hisana, noting her lack of any wounds. The ghostly apparition, on the other hand, was alternating her terrified gaze between her unconscious doppelganger, the chain at her chest, and Rukia.

As the two sisters stared, one link fell off the chain.

Comprehension began to dawn, horribly, on Rukia. The same seemed to be happening to Hisana as their eyes met.

_Hisana – Hisana has –_

_No_. Rukia refused to let herself think about it. She pulled herself out of the depressing thoughts just in time to see the monster charge again.

"HISANA!" She screamed. "BEHIND YOU!"

As both of them continued to dodge the monster's attacks, receiving a few more injuries in the process, Rukia could only hope that help would come.

And soon.

* * *

**to be continued...**

* * *

3rd Author's Note: Hope you liked it. Yes, I know it's kinda short, but this is my first attempt at multi-chaptered fics in a long time, so I'm gonna keep them short and manageable. Otherwise, I'm going to run out of plot before I know it. :) Just so you know, Rukia may seem a little OOC in this fic. The difference is mainly caused by how she grew up: canon Rukia lived in Rukongai as a child, and had to depend on herself to deal with (after)life's challenges from a young age, while this Rukia has grown up in the (relatively safer) real world, with a family to lean on. So differences in personality are probably to be expected. But nothing much else about her has changed (including her _zanpakutō_), so don't worry. She still has an obsession for rabbits, though.

4th (and final) Author's Note: Yes, I will say what I always say: review, please! Also, my sincere thanks to all who have reviewed previous stories, and hope to see you reviewing again! You rock my world! So do review. Rest assured that I'll be waiting.


	2. Saved

DISCLAIMER: Of course it's mine... not.

Author's Note: I would tell you how sorry I am that it's been a _month_ since I posted the first chapter, but I'm not good at apologizing. I took quite some time to decide where the story was going to go, and I still haven't worked out all the details yet. I guess I'm more suited to writing one-shots. Probably. So, anyway, I'll stop talking now, and on to the story...

* * *

Rukia had never thought it possible to feel so afraid before.

She almost collapsed against the sidewalk while trying to avoid the monster's attacks. But then she saw the monster moving to attack Hisana.

Ignoring the pain in her body, she had forced herself to stand up and pull Hisana behind her.

"You'll never get to Hisana…" Rukia said, softly. "Unless you get past me."

The monster let out a bark of mocking, derisive laughter as Hisana tried to push Rukia away. She didn't budge.

"Rukia!" Her sister's tone was urgent.

The younger girl shook her head, resolutely standing her ground.

"No. You've always protected me; now I'll do the same for you."

Violet eyes met gray for a moment as Rukia turned, smiling bravely at her sister, before staring down the monster. Time seemed to pass slowly as she watched the monster's tail swing down – it was going to hit her – she was going to die –

A flash of white streaked past. The monster's tail fell to the ground, severed.

The sound of the monster's howling was cut short abruptly as something cut its mask, causing it to vaporise and disappear.

It was _gone_, just like that.

Rukia heard her sister murmur a short prayer of thanks before slumping against her. She was barely in time to catch the limp form, laying it out carefully on the ground beside her.

As their saviour landed gracefully beside Rukia, sheathing his sword, there was a shout.

"_Taicho_!"

The word set off a dozen questions in Rukia's mind. But before she could ask any of them, the man, whom Rukia now noticed had white hair, spoke.

"Don't worry about _me_, Kaien. I'm fine."

There was a slight rustling of robes as another man, this one black-haired, appeared by the first. He took in the sight of Hisana's unconscious form, and then her body, lying a distance away.

"Urahara's?"

The second man carefully picked Hisana up, and was gone in a flash when the first man nodded.

As soon as he was gone, the white-haired man started to cough as Rukia looked on, alarmed.

He recovered about a minute later. "Sorry about that," he said, holding out his hand. "I'm Jushiro Ukitake."

"Rukia Kurayuki." Rukia shook the man's hand briskly. "That was my twin sister, Hisana. Thank you, Ukitake-sama."

Jushiro laughed. "None of that '–sama' stuff with me. It makes me feel old."

"Fine." Rukia thought. "Ukitake-san, I have a question."

She pointed to where they had been attacked.

"What was_ that_?"

There was a slight pause before he answered her. "A Hollow."

Jushiro laughed at Rukia's confused expression. "Come on, let's go find your sister. I'll explain as we walk there."

* * *

2nd Author's Note: Sorry about the length, or lack thereof. By the way, I took some liberties with the timeline, such as having Urahara's shop exist about forty years before it probably should. Hope you guys can bear with me.

3rd (and last) Author's Note: I know that this isn't my best work :( I revised this quite a few times, but it still refused to come out the way I wanted it to. Anyway, I hope that you guys will leave a review, and tell me how to improve. I'll be waiting!


End file.
